Identity Theft First of All, Term Paper

Total Length: 1334 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 4

The system that Networks Update critiques is IMAG ("Identity Managed Access Gateway") by Apere, Inc.

The way it works is by an innovative way of permitting or denying access to applications that are critical to a business; the IMAG systems knows who should and who should not have access to those critical files and applications because it has "auto discovery capabilities" that immediately click into place when any attempt is made to enter into privileged files.

But what makes this system unique - in an IT world that already has firewalls and other seemingly effective preventative measures - is that, according to the Mark Rhodes-Ousley, author of the book Network Security, The Complete Reference, IMAG automatically creates and manages "...access policies based on all sources of identity information in the network," and avoids wasteful use of IT resources "for manual network access provisioning and policy management."

While the future success of innovations like IMAG is positive and hopeful but yet to be proven, there are other ongoing efforts to come up with ways to safeguard identity security for individuals. One of those efforts is the new research center - the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection - being developed at Utica College (Kiernan, 2006). According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the center is necessary because - in the words of Thomas Longstaff, deputy director for technology at the center - there are some viable research projects ongoing and run by experts, but they're "few in number and widely scattered."

Said Longstaff: "We desperately need coordination." The executive director of the center, Gary R. Gordon, calls the center a "clearinghouse for research conducted by others" who are working on identity theft issues.
The center will "shed light on practices and technologies that could block identity theft from happening in the first place," said Gordon. The annual budget at the start of the center's operation is only $500,000 - half of which comes from federal grants and the rest from two corporate sponsors, LexisNexis and IBM.

There are three academic partners as well (none of which will provide funds for the center), including: Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (which operates the CERT Coordination Center); Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research; and the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Computer Applications and Software Engineering at Syracuse University, according to Kiernan.

On the subject of universities and identity theft protection, another article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Kiernan), dated June 30, 2006, reminds anyone interested in the subject that indeed institutions' systems of protecting personal information are flawed and vulnerable. The article, by Vincent Kiernan, reports that "outsiders" may well have gained access to Social Security numbers and other personal information of nearly a quarter of a million students. One of those schools is Western Illinois University - where a hacker apparently accessed credit card numbers and Social Security information for 240,000 "current or former students." And at the University of Kentucky, a "thumb drive" (portable device) - which stored 6,500 Social Security numbers - was stolen from a faculty member.

And so, while law enforcement reports that a very small amount of stolen identity information is actually used by the thieves who hacked through firewalls and into protected files, it must also be emphasized that having any personal business information accessed by unknown interlopers is placing those violated at.....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Identity Theft First Of All " (2006, August 29) Retrieved May 17, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/identity-theft-first-71566

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Identity Theft First Of All " 29 August 2006. Web.17 May. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/identity-theft-first-71566>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Identity Theft First Of All ", 29 August 2006, Accessed.17 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/identity-theft-first-71566